in fact, the u.s. army air corps at the time that hap took over was just a really pitiful stepchild of the land army. they had 1700 airplanes, most of them obsolete. well, that's not exactly true. all of them were obsolete. [laughter] they had a head count of 20,000, so it was, you know, the equivalent of a division plus of ground troops. it was a pretty pathetic thing. but maylon craig was chief of staff, and e insisted that we don't -- he insisted that we don't need those damn airplanes. that was, that was what he had to deal with. coincidentally concern this is 1938 -- hap became chief the same week that some gentlemen were having a little summit conference in munich. president of france was there, mr. neville chamberlain, the prime minister of of great britain, was there. and chancellor adolf hitler. and they, hiterer was, hitler was sort of stretching his muscles those days. he was, he had rearmed germany, and he was thinking that he wanted to run europe. well, england and france at no time want german

the u.s. army air corp., and at that time, he inherited, of course, probably the seventh air force in the world at a time when anything below five was a pretty pitiful thing. in fact, the airplane was just a really pitiful stepchild of a lain army. they had 1700 airplanes. most of them obsolete. now, no, that's not exactly true. all of them were obsolete. you know, they had a head count of 20,000, and it was, you know, equivalent of a division class of ground troops. it was a pathetic thing, but may lain craig was chief of stach insisting we don't need the damn airplanes. that's what he dealt with. incidentally, this is 1938, became chief the same week that some gentlemen were having a little summit conference in munich. mr.-- the president of france was there, and prime minister of great britain was this, and counselor hitre, and hitler was sot of stretching his muscles. he rearmed germany, and he wanted to run europe. well, eng land france dbilitiment germany running europe, but they didn't want

so what happened with this u.s. army air forces that used to be the u.s. army air corps? well, in six years hap built this thing up. he built it up from 1700 obsolete airplanes, most of which had to be thrown away, to 17,000 airplanes. it didn't stop there, it didn't stop at 34,000. within six years it was nearing 80,000. 20,000 men mushroomed to 2.4 million. hap arnold built the largest air force in the world. and it's the largest air force in world history so what did he do with air force? well, he did a lot of things. he final hi had a chance to exercise billy mitchell's theory that if you get enough long-range bombers, you can reach into the enemy's heartland, you can take out his armament factories, you can take out his transportation network, you can destroy his oil wells, his oil refineryies and after that you could go after his synthetic petrochemical industry which the germans had a state of the art one. hap arnold took it out. a little story that i'd like to tell about, anecdotal, about air power in world war ii. there was in this june of 1944 -- this at the poi

. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> right now, shrinking the u.s. army down to preworld war ii size. chuck hagel will roll out the pentagon's plan to make that happen. we'll bring the announcement live and talk about what it means for u.s. national security. >>> also right now, the streets are calmer. the ex president is on the run. but ukraine's future is full of questions. he'll speak with the u.s. ambassador to the ukraine about what comes next. that's coming up this hour, as well. >>> and right now, president obama plays host to the nation's governor. on the agenda, the economy, health care, and just who might take over the white house in the election in 2016. >>> hello, i'm wolf blitzer, reporting from washington. we start with big cuts over at the pentagon. we're awaiting the arrival of the defense secretary, chuck hagel, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey. they'll be laying out the details of the new proposed pentagon budget and the cuts. you're looking at live pictures from the briefing room over there at the pe

. >>> big changes could be coming to the u.s. army. defense secretary chuck hagel is recommending billions of dollars in annual budget cuts that would limit pay raises and increase health care premiums. under the plan, the army would shrink to the smallest force since the world war ii build-up. likely to face fierce opposition on capitol hill. >>> the nation's governors at the white house again today. they had dinner with president obama sunday night as part of their winter conference. and today the president will urge them to team up for what he calls a year of action. the message, if congress won't act, then the white house will work with the states directly to get things done. >>> some bad news this morning

and so the u.s. army gave them to the french as a throw away, so they fought with the french and became one of the most decorated successful combat units, black or white in the u.s. army. >> do you think that comics are getting more diverse or do you think that it's in the audience all long? >> i think there's been a push back in recent years, and they make up half of the comic reading audience, and half at convention, and in some ways, they have been lagging behind in terms of positive representations in women in the comic pages themselves. this is an ongoing conversation, and there has been improvement. but any time you have a new character, particularly a female or minority character headline being a book, it's always something of a gambit. because at the end of the day, the comic book industry comes down to sales, and it's hard to predict how the market will respond to something like that. whether the people will pick it up and buy it, or if they just want the next edition of wolverine. >> i think we

fought with the french, and became one of the most decorated combat units, black or white in the u.s. army. >> do you think that it's more diverse or is the mainstream audience noticing what has existed all along? >> i think particularly when it comes to gender, there has been a lot of pushback from female fans, and as max said, they make up half of the audience, and half of the population at convention, but in some ways comics have been lagging hand in the presentation of women themselves. so i think there's an ongoing conversation, and i think there have been improvements, but i think any time you have a new character, particularly a female character or a minority character headlining a book, it's always something of a gambit. and it's really hard to predict how the market will respond. whether people will buy t. or if they just want the next issue of wolverine. >> the community -- go ahead, max, you wanted to chime in. >> we can all be nuanced here and say that there's no such thing as women readers. they're all different individuals with different points of view. hillary clinton is a w

. >> kankakee county officials say they checked with the u.s. army corps of engineers and there's little they can do to get the water moving. streets and sanitation crews in chicago will start clearing out "dibs" items today. under this long-time city tradition, people use everything from old chairs to crates to reserve parking spots. the understanding is ... you shovel the spot ... you claim it as yours. people who don't remove the items will lose them. ukraine president victor yanukovych is now a wanted man. an arrest warrant was issued for him and several other officials for the mass killings of civilians. parliament voted to oust yanukovych and appointed someone else to take over his job until new elections in may. but yanukovych says he's still in charge even though he tried fleeing the country, but he didn't have the right papers to do so. his exact location is not known, as his own party blames him for recent casualties and financial debt. another crowd for ukraine gathered in chicago. this group held a vigil outside the ukrainian consulate fo

and the that's compared to thirty eight percent who think it had almost succeeded with a former u.s. army judge advocate general and he told us washington is interested in maintaining the image of an unending call flecked in afghanistan they know we're definitely leaving why continue wasting lives trying to get us out but it seems that we're setting an opposite message leaving. which would still seem to be some kind of occupying force rather without. elements. always wanted to remain an occupying force they want to maintain the appearance that we're in a war so that they can justify the. extra constitutional extra judicial powers on behalf of the. so called commander in chief the president. we're heading into a short break and. your national for more news including a report on the small villages in the me face the prospect of having to leave their homes to make way for a. well told from a language of love react to situations i have read the reports let. me know i will leave the state to comment on your monoplane. carryout a car is on the dock you know gonna. take you. when you made a dire

new york times report the plan includes shrinking the u.s. army to its smallest size since before world war ii. secretary hagel also plans to eliminate the entire fleet of air force a-10 thunderbolt 2 attack jets because of their limited capability. the plans will be laid out in hagel's first defense budget which according to "the wall street journal" also includes limits on military pay raises, higher fees for military health care benefits, and less generous military housing allowances. officials tell the journal the cuts will save billions of dollars needed to protect other critical areas of defense spending. >>> a call for a year of action -- president obama making another call at the white house. in a nod to governors in the audience, possibly eyeing to replace him, come 2015. >> tonight we want to make sure that all of you make yourselves at home, to which i'm sure some of you are thinking, that's been the plan all along. >> all right. got to take note of the seating arrangement. vice president joe biden flanked by massachusetts governor demo

and this is a great game does that just today secretary of defense chuck hagel announce that the u.s. army will be reduced to its smallest size since before the second world war and it only took us seven years to do it now that's progress the size of the army will drop to somewhere between four hundred forty and four hundred fifty thousand by two thousand and fifteen but before we all pop the champagne bottles keep in mind that less of ground troops are needed as this country continues to outsource its military to private mercenary forces and the spending cap for new military spending in two thousand in two thousand and fifteen excuse me is still four hundred ninety six billion dollars not including the wars that will be paying off for decades to come for perspective consider that the two thousand and fourteen budget provides only seventy seven billion for transportation infrastructure development and a mere seventy one billion for education so if you think that this tokenistic reduction doesn't do nearly enough to read address the out of control military budget then join me and let's brea

the u.s. army chief of staff met with his chinese counterpart and held talks on setting up dialogue between the u.s. and chinese armies and relations between the two militaries are friendly. this is on reports of china building up its military. >> the city of detroit released a blueprint for how it plans to deal with its $18 million debt. the plan is not sitting well with everyone. detroit has a plan to dig itself out of bankruptcy. facing $18 billion in long-term debt. emergency manager filed a re-organisation plan calling for cuts, banks and bond holders. the emergency manager has proposed that pension checks for general city retirees be cut 34%, and police and fire retirees see a cut. the plan is subject to approval by a bankruptcy judge, and will undergo appeals. but donald smith who worked 30 years says any cut to his pension will hurt. he receives an $800 pension check. under his proposal that would drop to around $500. >> this makes such a drastic effect on me i can't imagine how i will make

. >> he is proposing to shrink the u.s. army.y are doing more with less overall here it is sequestration doesn't go over, it will get worse. it will be a particularly tough sell in congress. some lawmakers are promising to alter the land at this point just to see releases it. spending next year. he is proposing to reduce the .rmy from the current he is looking to save as much as $3.5 billion over five years by retiring the popular tank killer. drones will replace the spy plane. he is proposing benefit changes for current and private members of the military and housing allowances. choices would be even tougher is sequestration did not go away. >> sequestration requires cuts so deep, so abrupt, so quickly, that we cannot shrink the size of the military fast enough. in the short-term, the only way to implement sequestration is to sharply reduce spending on readiness and modernization which would almost certainly .esult in a hollow force >> sequestration is the law of the land right now. he is not killing any major weapons. this is a

the u.s. army plans to downsize to reduce defense spending. the new york times says chuck hagel will say something about later today. >>> the taliban says it is suspending talks with the u.s. to exchange u.s. army sergeant bo for five taliban prisoners. last week a u.s. official said american diplomats have been holding very sensitive talks with the taliban in hopes of freeing him. the talks are being suspended because of the current complex political situation in pakistan. the spokesman didn't say what that situation is. he's been held captive in pakistan since 2009. >>> u.s. prosecutors are planning to extradite drug lord. he was arrested yesterday morning during a raid in north western mexico. this is an elaborate neck of tunnels that allowed him to move. prosecutors say his drug empire stretched across north america and extended into europe and australia. >>> time is 5:14. we just checked. all of cover california's website is working again. the enrollment section went down on wednesday. spokesperson says the problem was a malfunctioning mt.

. >> first the numbers the u.s. army would shrink from 570,000 to 440,000 soldiers and more important politically, governor martin o'malley is already objecting to it. and the e reservists would drop from 560 to 530,000, and a couple of warplanes eliminated and most often not eliminated, but the whole deal here, pat, is that two wars are over, iraq and afghanistan almost over for the u.s., and there's a budget problem, frankly. and so the pentagon is going to shrink. if this plan goes through the obama-hagel plan is going to shrink to a level that the u.s. army has not seen since the beginning of world war ii, but it is not a done deal, because there are objections on both sides up here on capitol congre are trying to solve our budget problems on the back of the military families. the p.x. and other subsidies would get less, and so there would be more co-pays toer the insurance, and more allotments for the military housing would develo drop, so this is going to be controversial. chuck hagel said we have to do this and af

u.s. military. the army did haved hundreds of soldiers -- disqualified hundreds of soldiers in sensitive positions after a review. they have been linked to a raping of infactions. the army is trying to get rid of dozens of the soldiers. >> the nominee for the ukrainian transitional government faces a vote on thursday, a week after president viktor yanukovych was forced from office. the u.s. announced it could give ukraine a $1 billion loan. >> dramatic pictures out of a camp in syria. 20,000 people have been trapped struggling for basic supplies and medical care. images are emerging showing people lining up for food and water. >> those are the headlines. "america tonight" coming up next. i'm thomas drayton in new york. but this is one for a lot of different record books and worries for what's ahead. >> when the ice comes up, if it comes out of the banks and it pushes up on the banks, anything in its way, it will push it out of the way. >> a new face-off ukraine. new clashes and questions about neighbor russi

the u.s. army sergeant served in the u.s. military police of the u.s. now the bad. one man in canada taking base jumping to a new level. >> three, two, one! whooo! >> the man jumped from a moving cable car which is illegal and now police are looking for him. >> finally the ugly. crocodiles can climb trees apparently. that according to new research. this behavior may help crocks survey their surroundings and regulate their body temperature. >> "fox & friends" starts now. bye. >>> good morning. it is thursday, february 13. i'm elisabeth hasselbeck. we start with a fox news alert. winter weather paralyzing the united states. 5,000 flights canceled and nearly one million people are waking up without power this morning. we have fox team coverage tracking the storm. >> new abysmal obamacare numbers, but don't worry, the white house has a plan. send out joe biden to get people signed up. >> it's just a pain in the neck that you may find yourself going back to step one again. >> does that sound like a good

under his proposal the u.s. army would be cut to pre-world war ii levels.t would be reduced by 70,000 to around 450,000. among other cuts the spy plane will be retired. hagel's proposal is running into opposition. >> only china has more troops on active duty than the u.s. the men military is considered -- american military is considered the most powerful. chuck hagel says he must cut the size of the military. the majority in the army. from 525,000 to 440,000. >> we chose strength and structure active and reserve. in order to sustain readiness and technological superiority. >> by cutting numbers to not seen since before world war ii. he'd have more money for special forces and cyber war fair, it means that the us would not be able to fight two wars at the same time. >> this proposal represented a realistic way forward. >> the pentagon is under pressure to cut a trillion in spending in the next 10 years to balance the budget. >> hagel says it means closing u.s. bases. cutting orders for weapons, planes and ships. members of congress do not like any of these o

all right, sir, you are a retired four-star general in the u.s. army, commander of u.s.s in afghanistan, commander of the joint special operations command, or jsoc, and you have a new book here called "my share of the task." all right, first of all, before we get started, you're my third four-star general. petraeus, odierno, and you, makes me a 12-star host so don't try to pull rank on me, all right? don't try to pull rank. i did not do my share of the reading, so tell me about "my share of the task." what are you trying to say in this book. it's about personal responsibility? >> it is. it's about being part of a team but accepting your part of the responsibility for that because ultimately, you have a responsibility to other people, the people who you work for and who you stand next to. >> stephen: you commanded jsoexrrks. you are the guide that turned jsoc-- the joint special operations command-- into a real javelin against al qaeda and our ?ms in afghanistan and iraq. you guys took out zarqawi. explain what jsoc does. >> it brings together america's most elite forces

u.s. china interaction going forward. army generals today say they have no objection to the army getting a little smaller in the next round of quadrennial road -- quadrennial defense review. it causes some angst and concerned but people are not fighting it a cousin of the reasons you mentioned. we need a strong economy, strong diplomacy and other powers to be effective and an overly large defense budget could get in the way. i take your point and would simply submit that is what is all on all of our minds. serious is the case i didn't mention. syria is the place where -- syria is the place where these worlds come into a messy mix. is that a classic problem or a new age problem? is that a jihadist group in power or is that bashar al-assad? maybe it's all of the above. what i am submitting is there may be a role whether we like it or not, whether we want to admit or two,t, in a year there may be a role for an international stabilization force. syria being a given itsor jihadist location is not necessarily one i can accept over t

white was a high school dropout and spent time in the u.s. army discharged after only six weeks. later, he spent time in four different psychiatric hospitals where he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. >> one time he felt that there was demons underneath the floor in the bathroom, and he cut the bathroom floor out to get the demons out of there. >> eventually, white got married and landed a job with general motors. his marriage ended after just six months, and he was laid off from his job in 1987. >> he wasn't able to retain friends or any relationships and really was forced to move back home with his mother. >> white's psychiatric problems may have been the reason why the danville church rejected his application for membership. >> there has to be an agreement between the board, and because of some of the things that happened that was contributed to him, we didn't think that that would be quite what we wanted at that particular time. >> investigators also learned that rick's ex-wife was a member of the oakwood united methodist church where

. - u.s. army core of engineers hazed not paragraphed the take off activities until they do the project can't go forward. the other part i was involved with in in my professional career was q a and q c of hazard i didn't see activities. those activities allows for continuing operations the finding continuing operations without understanding what's going on during those operations >> thank you. >> thank you. >> okay. just to read the names again (calling names). >> good afternoon. i'm just here as a resident of panicking can and a member of environmental groups they're the environmental family although i don't represent them as a group but as somebody that hikes there all the time i've never seen a san francisco garden that's to beautiful. i have a lot of friends that feel the way i do. i have friends who golf and they won't golf there. they care about the environment and a city that's been a beak on its important to take the

[inaudible] served 26 years in the u.s. army and required with honors in 2013. major munt gumry is a part of the liberation of kuwait and the iraqy war. she has plans to begin a business administration plan in 2015. she lived in several states and countries and as a traveller embrays change. her commitment of the country and communities serves as huge [inaudible] we work foointhrich lives of students outside the classroom we atrack a [inaudible] such as major price mont gumry. today we want to thank her for her work and hope you will continue for many years at lincoln high school >> thank you all. i would like to thank [inaudible] with only 6 months of adult teaching and living in san francisco i feel i have a lot oto do and am up to thatd challenge. i believe i'm only here because of the hard work of my students. i draw from thir energy. serving in the military has a level of distinction, but not until i walked into the classroom could i say i love what i do. every morning i get up and love what i do and have new ideas for my student and they lusk it back. it d

that is the smallest u.s. army since before world war ii. they say that focuses more in technology and less on large armies. >> a warning tonight for the president's mother. >> and bashed for expecting mothers. >> a warning about it over the counter pain pill. d.c., people love been building makeshift shelters. now there is a new shelter for tonight with ade health alert for pregnant women. a new study finds that women who take acetaminophen while pregnant may increase their child's risk for adhd. ucla researchers studied more than 64,000 mothers and children from 1996 through 2002. report usingf acetaminophen while pregnant, and the results appeared to show a higher risk of children having adhd by the age of seven. they say more research is needed. circuit judge says he plans to appeal a federal judge's ruling to enforce the ban on same-sex marriage, calling it unconstitutional. the ban was overturned by the u.s. district judge earlier this month. right allen issued a stay until the fourth sore court of appeals could rule on the case. >> the

joining us is the retired u.s. army lieutenant general jerry boiken, commander of u.s. forces. when you hear about this, general, what goes through your mind? >> well, wolf, like most americans and certainly all veterans, i am absolutely outraged by this. you know, karzai needs to remember that he's in that position today because of the united states. and afghanistan is a sovereign nation today because of the united states. don't forget that, mr. karzai. >> you know, there's no doubt that the u.s. paid a huge, huge price not only the thousands killed, tens of thousands who've come home from afghanistan injured with long-term disabilities, but hundreds of billions of dollars over these 13 years spent in afghanistan. and they still want to stay there, a lot of u.s. officials say the u.s. should still remain in afghanistan even after all troops are supposed to be out by the end of this year, maybe 10,000 remaining. and they also want to provide billions and billions of dollars to afghanistan to build roads and bridges, infrastructures, schools, hospitals. a lot of the officials, m

the pentagon served notice that it wants to downsize the u.s. army, to the smallest it's been since just before world war two. >> ifill: on the newshour online right now, j.k. rowling got the idea for "harry potter" while on a train. countless westerns, mysteries and hitchcock plots are inspired by rail travel. and now amtrak is catching on by offering writers a chance to get on board with a new residency program, it gives them a seat and a creative space to write their great american novel while traveling across the country. read about the project, on the rundown. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, we'll look at the a- 10 warthog, a military aircraft seen as a guardian in the skies, that might be grounded by budget cuts. i'm judy woodruff >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill, we'll see you on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years

. >>> chuck wants to reduce the size of the u.s. army. they need to face the reality of smaller budgets. under it's plan the army would be cut from 522,000 to 5,450,000. that would make it the smallest before world war 2. special forces that can move quickly instead of costly large troop build up. >>> pope francis is making good on his promise to. to handle all business and personal mattery the biggest change in 20 years. for now a separate entity will over see and has not met international banking standards. >>> countless others are alive because of their dedicated service. >> ahead tonight friends and colleagues remember two killed in the line of duty. >>> and a quick fix for the products. a security hold that can leave you vulnerable to hackers. >>> wet, windy weather is on the way. which storms will arrive on what day coming up. anncr: at jennie-o we heard of a place in iowa where every thursday people ride 10 miles for tacos. we thought we'd show up and surprise them with a better kind of taco made with jennie-o ground turkey cooked

. >> the u.s. armyas a message for congress-- thanks but no attentions. >> the price over the past two arizona has been almost half a million dollars, but the army says we don't need any more tanks. >> it keeps jobs in congressional districts with they are located. >> stephen: we have to protect the jobs. if the military doesn't need the tanks we will find a job for them. just load up the baseballs and give them a real job in the batting cage. it will let skills honed go to waste, which i believe is radio shack's business model. these tanks are the only innovation from the vital useless sexer. there's the c27-j plane. ohio senators fought to order 21 of these $50 million planes because 800 jobs at mansfield air force base depended on it. then, the newly constructed fleet was shipped directly to an arizona bone yard. arizona bone yard, by the way, also the way of tucson's premiere retirement home for swingers. ( laughter ) but it, folks, fraps no useless piece of military equipment has done more for the

. >>> it looks like the u.s. army is about to get much smarter. chuck hagel is reportedly plans to shrink the army to preworld war ii levels. they promise that the military will remain the most capable in the world. it would no longer be able to maintain prolonged foreign occupatio occupations. >>> a stretch of the mississippi was closed over the weekend. a barge hit a tow both. they don't know how much oil was spilled. >>> some sports history from the nba. last night, jason collins became the first openly gay player to play in any of the major sports. >> he signed a ten-day contract yesterday and was on the floor facing the lakers. >> i'm usually urks like, the background, one of the background players. it's weird, obviously, this, but at the same time, it is what it is. and, it's part of life. >> collins said he was too busy learning plays before the game to think about making history. he played ten minutes. he didn't score. the nets won over the lakers. >>> time now for the weather from across the nation. a storm moving into the northwest. ligh

u.s. troops do pull out entirely, up to 30% of the afghan army could desert. anne-marie? >> tara mergener in washington. thank you, tara. >>> well, there are not a lot of women in the army who want a combat job. that is according to a just released survey. there are nearly 170,000 women in the army. less than 8% say they want a combat job. last year pentagon officials signed an order saying women must have the same opportunities as men. >>> general motors is doubling the number of compact cars its recalling. at issue is a faulty ignition switch that's a potential problem in 1.6 million gm cars. the problem has been linked to 31 crashes and 13 deaths. jeff glor reports. >> reporter: this crash of a chevy cobalt in wisconsin in 2006 which killed two teenage girls is part of a growing list of recalled vehicles. margie vestco lost her 15-year-old daughter from an accident. >> they knew something was wrong with the car before the accident. i just don't understand how they can knowingly put these cars out and still let people drive them. this is my child. this is my baby girl.

so, 16 years after julie's murder, the jacksonville police department sent julie's clothes to the u.s. armyst park, georgia, one of the most sophisticated labs available. >> the item in evidence included socks and her shirt and jeans, as well as other items from her sexual assault kit, which included, like, fingernail scrapings and other swabs. >> scientists there were discouraged. all but one of the items had been analyzed and tested. >> the socks had never been tested, probably because nobody expected to find anything useful on them. >> the idea that forensic evidence could have transferred onto julie's socks was remote. nevertheless, analyst brian higgins examined the socks with light sources that cause genetic material to fluoresce. >> i was kind of like, wow, could these be semen stains? i was kind of surprised, actually, because it's not one of the more common places we would find semen. >> the areas were removed then analyzed with a new dna test that needed only a very small amount of genetic material. miraculously, the tests generated a mixture of two dna profiles, one female and on

. >> reporter: he was return to germany a 19-year-old u.s. army private.e ended up with the monuments men by accident when heading to the front an officer found that he was fluent in german. >> he said, good. sit in this chair and this guy will tell you what to do. that was my entry to monuments men. >> reporter: he would spend the rest of the war sorting through plundered works of hard stashed in salt mines deep underground. the goal: return them to their rightful owners. >> this is one of the works rescued by the monument's men. >> it was. it was in the collection of louy rothchild. >> reporter: but another story would play high above europe. bombers had maps of targets to hit, but they had more than 700 maps like these drawn up by a team working in the reference library in new york. >> these maps are literally to make sure that these buildings didn't get destroyed, didn't get bombed. >> that's exactly. they were distributed so the bombing pilots would not hit the leaning tower of pisa. >> without these, the leaning tower of pisa may have been reduced to

the war in afghanistan winds down, defense secretary chuck hagel outlined his plan for shrink the u.s. army it if congress goes along, the number of active duty soldiers will drop from the current 520,000 to fewer than 450,000. and that would be the fewest since just before the u.s. entered world world war ii. something else that is dropping tonight is the temperature in the northern half of the u.s. another deep freeze is settling in. detroit could hit 12 degrees overnight. 6 did agrees in madison, wisconsin, 3 below in minneapolis where we find jamie of wcco. >> jamie? >> the windchills will dip as low as 30 degrees below zero later this week in minnesota. and be 40 doe agrees below normal in the great plains northeast and midwest. >> this new cold snap did stop flooding along rivers jammed with ice, in pennsylvania, minnesota and ohio. but ice blocks that tore up the shoreline along the cancakey river in illinois still threat be this bridge. the spinning circulation of wind known as the polar vortex has dug deep near canada. that has directed a burst of brutally cold air south. by the en

it's about the same amount as this year, but chuck hagel announced cuts that would shrink the u.s. army to levels not seen before world war ii. the army today has 522,000 soldiers. it was scheduled to shrink to 495,000 next year. now they plan to reduce that to 440,000 an and 450,000. in the end of 13 years of war in afghanistan and iraq. starting in 2016 hagel will have the challenge of imposing 1 trillion-dollar in cuts over a decade. he said these cuts could jeopardize america's national security. i ask you, do you agree with this move? jay tweets, i think our pentagon budget is too robust. we could cut it in half and still be on top. another writes, russia is expanding, china is expanding and we're scaling back? how does this even make sense to even a fifth grader. let's talk more about defense spending cuts and the american military, with the man who served as president clinton's secretary of defense from 2007 7 to 2001. william cohen, now chairman of the cohen group. good to see you. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> we just talked about infrastructure, p

that's where u.s. army chief of staff ray ordurno, talks between u.s. and chinese armies. relations are friendly and headed in the right direction. righting an historic wrong. 24 veterans will be awarded the medal of honor, the recipients, mostly hispanic and jewish, served during world war ii and the korean war. they had been honored instead of the medal of honor. >>> turning our focus to homeless veterans, almost 60,000 sleep on the streets every night in this country. one is working hard to address this problem. akiko fujita has the story. >> how is gary doing today? >> doing just fine. >> james roberson is on a mission. guiding the homeless to housing and food. >> can you have this and that and we start going from that point on. >> roberson is attempting to house everyone who is sleeping on the street. >> housing first model allows us to meet the veterans where they are. if they are using, if they have mental health issues, medical issues, we allow them to still get housed. >> they all work as partners here. federal vouchers provide the rent, private ngos provide the f

. >>> plus, the u.s. army prepares for shrinkage. >>> dale earnhardt jr. wins the daytona 500. >>> i'm richard lui. after days of crisis ukraine is ready to move on. yoused president viktori yaian could he vich is on the run. >> richard engel reports. >> reporter: sunday mass at saint michael's cathedral was dedicated to the nearly 100 protesters who died to oust ukraine's president. the cathedral became a field hospital this week. when riot police opened fire on demonstrators. >> medics. >> and just as fast as the government was overturned for that massacre, a new government is now being formed in a series of rapid fire votes, parliament today made its speaker interim president and issued an arrest warrant for viktor yanukovych. it shows him fleeing with suitcases realizing, perhaps, it might be a one-way trip. by night fall independence square once filled with bon fires and mali to have cocktails are here. >> by memorial's soft light ukrainians sang their national anthem rose sarris hung on barricades. >> i have so much pain in my heart for everything th

cuban five were never responsible for any sort of violence and that they never try to infiltrate the u.s. army never targeted u.s. interests and that they only objective was to basically prevent future terrorist attacks as you just mentioned terrorist attacks that by the way were plotted here in miami two in the seventy's the eighty's and the ninety's anyways what you can expect is a very warm welcome for fernandez gonzalez once he sets foot back in cuba i'm sure there will be well deserved run a good analogy you mention was released and it doesn't allow the not immediately allowed to return to cuba is that the same case or is it unknown at this point. no it's a completely different case the main difference here is that rene gonzalez was a u.s. citizen and that obviously changes the whole let's say legal post release and you can't just deport one of your own citizens plus u.s. citizens aren't allowed to travel to cuba so what happened well right now he was released on parole for three years down in two thousand and eleven he was allowed to return to cuba only for his father's funeral back in a

tonight "the washington post" has obtained dramatic surveillance video that shows u.s. army delta force commandos capturing an al qaeda leader on the streets of tripoli. this was in libya last october. in just 60 seconds elapsed time, the american special operators grab al libbi from his car, shove him in their van and make their escape. you may recall for 13 years al libbi was one of the most wanted terrorists for his alleged bombing in the two embassies. he is currently in federal prison in new york facing terrorism charges. >>> now to what is going on here at these olympic winter games in sochi, russia, as we mentioned there is growing concerns tonight that the course for one of these premiere games may not be quite ready for prime time as the athletes get ready to compete tomorrow. tonight, an american woman has become one of the most decorated winter olympians in all of u.s. sports history. nbc's kevin tibbles has been following it all. and is with us here tonight. kevin, good evening. >> reporter: brian, she may not be a household name like other u.s. downhill skiers,